Approaching the bedding from unexpected direction could help the hunter. Some favored bedding area is in the low land near rivers, ponds and swamps besides the low ridges.
Unfortunately there is no hard and fast rule, which the hunter can use in order to locate these resting and bedding places. There is nothing to prevent deer from lying down anywhere they happen to be and they do this very thing during the night after feeding. During the daytime rest period, they seek seclusion where they will be safe from enemies and, to some extent, be protected from the weather. This being so, there is a large part of a herd's range, which the hunter may disregard when looking for bedding areas. Open fields, feeding areas, trails that are used by men, and even game trails are seldom used by deer as bedding places, but they may be used by the hunter as starting points in his search. Tracks found at these places will often indicate the general direction taken by deer on their way to their resting places. It is seldom possible to stalk a resting deer by following its track to its bed, for it invariably watches its back trail. The hunter should use his knowledge of the area to which the deer seems to be heading, in order to judge where the animal might be located and then stalk that area or the most promising locations in that area.
Deer seem to be partial to low ridges when choosing bedding grounds and will often use them even when they are near well-traveled roads. Such places are almost impossible to approach from the road without detection by the deer. These locations should be approached from the opposite side, or the stalk should be made along the top of the ridge if wind or other conditions make the former approach undesirable. It is always best to try to approach any bedding area from an unexpected direction.
Another favored bedding area is in the low land near rivers, ponds and swamps. Deer often pick wood land meadows where the swamp grass gives them concealment. These places are difficult for the hunter to approach because of the grass and underbrush which cover such areas.
I have found quite a few deer which were bedded down on points of land that jut out into lakes and ponds. The hunter is often tempted to save steps by crossing the base of these points instead of hunting them. By doing so, he is very apt to pass up a good chance for a shot at a deer. Deer in these places will seldom take to the water when disturbed by man, but will try to run past the hunter in an attempt to reach the main land.
Points of woods which extend into fields and cuttings, similar to the points of land which extend into water, are often used as bedding places, but deer which are in these places are not restricted in their choice of an escape route. Deer in these places are difficult to stalk and are a real challenge to an experienced stalker.
Therefore it is very important for the hunter to know from which direction of the bedding place he has to approach and make the hunter more successful without much stalking and disturbance to the deer before shooting. |
